11.13.2015

#black lives matter vs the photojournalists: What I learned from the Missouri protests.Like a moth to flame, I keep getting pulled to read more about the protests at Missouri this week.The whole series of events was historic, yes, but what has gotten the most discussion amongst my photojournalist friends is one incident in which Mizzou students and staff tried to keep journalists away from the "safe space" they had created in the middle of a "public space."

In a ridiculous moment, communications professor Melissa Click tried to evict a videographer.

However, I feel differently now that I've discovered a video showing Click at a different protest, a month earlier. On Oct. 10, about 11 black students interrupted Missouri's homecoming parade, standing in front of President Wolfe's car. Some white bystanders aggressively stepped in to break up the protest, and many more cheered these whites on.

Now guess who is the first caucasian to step in and link arms with the black students? Our friend Professor Click. First visible at about 8:00 in the video, and recognizable at 8:57.

Click's academic career may be over, and maybe rightly so —who wants a communication prof who obstructs the first amendment? — but as a white ally to black students, she was on the front lines, doing anti-racism work that more of us should be — ok, ok, I'll speak for myself — that I should be working harder to do.

For me, it's a good reminder for me that people are more complex than any single action, and we do them an injustice by judging them for any single moment.

When is the right time for me to lay down my camera for a while, and participate rather than document?